When setting up your Graphic
Options in Rogue Spear one of the fundamental
decisions is the screen resolution to run
the game at.
This report shall identify
the considerations to be taken into account,
and the pros and cons of each resolution.
VIEWABLE AREA
1024X768 |
640X480 |
As the two Screen captures above show, whether
you run in hi-res or low-res the actual viewable
area is the same. Although the
perspective is slightly different, the scene
is presented in the same way on both resolutions.
INFORMATION WINDOWS
What does differ on the screen are the information
windows. There is a clear advantage
in playing with low resolution as the map
window in particular is almost twice the size,
and far easier to read. In the lower resolution
it is possible to view
more of the map, in higher detail.
IMAGE QUALITY
(CLOSE)
1024X768 |
640X480 |
The two reasons gamers select
a high resolution for gaming are probably
If you have a monster PC there is of course
no reason not to run at the highest resolution
possible, however these pictures show that
there is not the big difference in graphic
quality you might expect. In fact you have
to stare very hard to see any difference at
all. Looking at the white areas of the visible
shoulder you can just see that the higher
resolution is smoother than the jaggy lower
resolution. The difference would be impossible
to notice during gameplay.
What these images prove is that lower spec.
machines can safely reduce the resolution,
without sacrificing image
quality.
IMAGE QUALITY
(DISTANCE)
This is where we get down to
business. We have seen that at close range
there is virtually nothing to separate high
and low resolutions - what about the image
display when the target is at assault rifle,
or even sniping distance. The following set
of images were all taken at the airport map
with the target at the opposite end of the
map, sighted through a HK PSG-1
For each state of zoom on the
HK PSG-1 you can see what image would be available
for each of the 4 resolutions. The advantage
of higher resolutions is now apparent; at
higher resolutions it is possible to achieve
a far better target area. Resolutions above
1024 showed no further benefit.
CONCLUSIONS
-
Resolution does not
impact upon the viewable area
-
Information screens
are easier read at lower resolutions
-
Image quality at close
quarters is only marginally improved with
higher resolutions
-
Image quality at distance
is vastly improved with higher resolutions,
up to 1024x768
Jan 2001.
